THE CRIME FICTION WRITER’S BLOG has found a new home.
You can find it here: https://www.dplylemd.com/blog
It is now part of my new, and hopefully improved, website.
This WordPress site will remain as an archive and can be easily reached from the new site via a provided link.
However, since my old website no longer exists, some links within this archived Blog might not work.
Most should be fine though.
Hope you find the new Blog helpful and fun
TALLYMAN RELEASE DAY
TALLYMAN (Cain/Harper #3) comes out today.
When Sonny Coleman is gunned down while on a late-night run near the community college where he teaches, his mother Erin Coleman, the US Ambassador to NATO, wishes to avoid his death becoming an international media circus. To this end, she hires Bobby Cain and Harper McCoy to discretely investigate her only son’s death. Shortly after their arrival in the rural Tennessee town, the body of a young woman is found and it appears she is the latest target of a killer known as The Tallyman, due to his tauntingly carving the victim number into the flesh of each corpse. But the killer, after tallying four murders, fell silent for several years. Why has he resurfaced now and why is the latest victim marked with a seven? Are there two missing bodies? Is his reappearance connected to the seemingly random murder of Sonny Coleman? The suspect list is tenuous at best and Cain and Harper must sort through past and present crimes, as well as Sonny’s life, to uncover a ruthless and truly sociopathic killer.
ORDER NOW:
Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Tallyman-Cain-Harper-Thriller-Book-ebook/dp/B0B2YBXQ3Z/ref=sr_1_1?
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tallyman-d-p-lyle/1141848086
IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780578295244
Books-a-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Tallyman/D-P-Lyle/9780578295244
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/books/tallyman/9780578295244
PRAISE FOR TALLYMAN:
A fast-paced atmospheric thriller with endearing characters that stay with you long after you finish. A series that keeps getting better and better. Fans of Orphan X will love it.—David Putnam author of the bestselling Bruno Johnson series
Tallyman, the 3rd in D.P. Lyle’s Cain/Harper series, may be his best yet. It grabs you by the throat on page one and rides a roller coaster of tension, quality dialogue, and superior characters to the very end. This is a must read for thriller lovers.–Joseph Badal, Author of the Lassiter/Martinez Case Files Series
A dynamite addition to Lyle’s Cain/Harper series. He expertly weaves his knowledge of true crime with a crackling plot and intriguing characters that fairly leap from the page. Highly recommended!–Weldon Burge, Author of “Harvester of Sorrow”
Book Review Crew Review
Bobby Cain and Harper McCoy, the brother/sister team, and dynamic duo PIs are back! They were raised by not completely legally-minded Gypsies, and then had their special skills honed by the US military forces. When an American Ambassador’s son is shot to death on a back road near a rural Tennessee college town where he is a beloved professor, Erin Coleman seeks out the best there is to look into her only child’s death. And fix it, like only they can. Sure, the FBI is on the case, but justice is not Ambassador Coleman’s only concern. She wants her son Sonny’s death avenged. The town is then rocked by the be the murder of a young woman whose death seems to mark the reappearance of the serial killer, dubbed Tallyman for the numbers he carves into his victims. Are these two killings related? If so, how? Cain and Harper must unravel the mystery to fulfill their promise to Ambassador Coleman.
Returning characters, Cain and Harper live up to their billing as tough, and smart. I always love his stories, and now Lyle grabbed my attention with these characters. Great as a stand-alone, or even better in the continuing series, Tallyman hits all its marks; I highly recommend this book!
Criminal Mischief: Episode #49: Familial/Genealogical DNA
LISTEN: https://soundcloud.com/authorsontheair/criminal-mischief-episode-49-familialgenealogical-dna
PAST SHOWS: http://www.dplylemd.com/criminal-mischief.html
SHOW NOTES:
GOLDEN STATE KILLER:
CBS News (4-22-17): https://www.cbsnews.com/news/golden-state-killer-connecting-the-dots-in-the-search-for-a-serial-predator/
Richmond University: https://jolt.richmond.edu/2019/10/30/familial-dna-testing-the-golden-state-killer-and-how-it-affects-you/
The Golden State Killer and DNA: https://dna-explained.com/2018/04/30/the-golden-state-killer-and-dna/
ABC News: https://abcnews.go.com/US/dna-family-members-helped-solved-golden-state-killer/story?id=54800093
GRIM SLEEPER:
Grim Sleeper-Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grim_Sleeper
LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jul-08-la-me-grim-sleeper-20100708-story.html
MISC:
Jody Loomis Case: https://www.newser.com/story/298585/suspect-in-1972-murder-kills-himself-hours-before-verdict.html
Familial DNA Used in Only 12 States: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/familial-dna-puts-elusive-killers-behind-bars-only-12-states-n869711
TALLYMAN Cain/Harper #3 Now Available for Pre-order
When Sonny Coleman is gunned down while on a late-night run near the community college where he teaches, his mother Erin Coleman, the US Ambassador to NATO, wishes to avoid his death becoming an international media circus. To this end, she hires Bobby Cain and Harper McCoy to discretely investigate her only son’s death. Shortly after their arrival in the rural Tennessee town, the body of a young woman is found and it appears she is the latest target of a killer known as The Tallyman, due to his tauntingly carving the victim number into the flesh of each corpse. But the killer, after tallying four murders, fell silent for several years. Why has he resurfaced now and why is the latest victim marked with a seven? Are there two missing bodies? Is his reappearance connected to the seemingly random murder of Sonny Coleman? The suspect list is tenuous at best and Cain and Harper must sort through past and present crimes, as well as Sonny’s life, to uncover a ruthless and truly sociopathic killer.
A good time to catch up with Jake, Nicole, Ray, and, of course, Pancake. All 5 books in the series are Kindle Monthly Deals for November—Only $1.99 each.
Ex-professional baseball player Jake Longly adamantly refuses to work for Ray, his PI father, preferring to hang out at his beach-front bar/restaurant and chase bikinis along the beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama. But Ray could be persuasive so Jake finds himself staking-out a suspected adulteress who gets murdered right under Jake’s nose. Aided by new girlfriend Nicole Jamison, Jake’s homicide investigation quickly runs afoul of Ukrainian mobster Victor Borkov and his henchmen. Was Borkov behind the murder? If so, why? As the intrepid couple peel away the layers of the crime, more murders pile up, and ultimately they must somehow escape being deep-sixed from Borkov’s massive yacht.
DETAILS: http://www.dplylemd.com/book-details/deep-six/
ORDER: https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Six-Jake-Longly-Book-ebook/dp/B01BGHUTBK/
Jake Longly and girlfriend Nicole head to New Orleans after Nicole’s producer/uncle Charles Balfour’s mega-star, A-list actor Kirk Ford, awakens with a dead co-ed in his hotel bed. Worse, the girl is the niece of local mafioso Tony Guidry.
But something isn’t right. The facts don’t fit. Who would want Kristi Guidry dead, or Kirk framed? And why?
Nothing’s easy in the Big Easy
DETAILS:http://www.dplylemd.com/book-details/a-list.html
ORDER: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076N2ZC95
Bizarre doesn’t quite cover it. In SUNSHINE STATE, Jake Longly and girlfriend Nicole Jamison are hired, through an anonymous benefactor, by serial killer Billy Wayne Baker to prove that two of the seven murders weren’t actually his work. Yet, he confessed to all seven and his DNA turned up at each scene. Is Billy Wayne simply trying to tweak the system, garner another fifteen minutes of fame? Or is there a killer out there getting away with murder? If so, who, why, and, most importantly, how? Nothing is as it seems in the Sunshine State.
DETAILS:http://www.dplylemd.com/book-details/sunshine-state.html
ORDER: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07P9KM8VY
First loves are never forgotten. Ever. Certainly not for Tommy “Pancake” Jeffers. His first-kiss, sixth-grade love Emily, who he has not seen since grammar school, is sliding toward divorce in the artsy Gulf Coast town of Fairhope. Alabama. Longly Investigations has been charged with looking into the finances involved. But, when Emily doesn’t appear for their nervously anticipated meeting, Pancake’s radar goes on high alert. When her body, along with that of Jason, one of two guys she has been dating, are found murdered, Pancake calls in Jake, Nicole, and Ray and the pursuit begins. Who would have done this? The soon-to-be ex, who has an ironclad alibi, the other guy Emily is seeing—jealousy being a motive for harm, or do the drugs found in Jason’s pocket indicate a drug-related hit? That world yields a host of suspects. As they peel back the layers of this idyllic community, dark secrets come to light and convoluted motives and methods of murder are revealed.
DETAILS:http://www.dplylemd.com/book-details/rigged.html
ORDER: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0831RJCRQ
Jake Longly is hoping for a few weeks of fun with Nicole in the warm Orange County, CA sun—The OC, baby. But they discover that Nicole’s friend Megan Weatherly, a local TV reporter, has picked up an anonymous stalker. As the shadowy man escalates his harassment, Ray and Pancake arrive.
The stalker is no fool, likely has past experience, and manages to cover his trail completely. Suddenly the sunshine and safety of The OC seem more facade than reality. Jake and crew must punch through that facade and dig into the dark world of celebrity stalking. The clock is ticking.
DETAILS:http://www.dplylemd.com/book-details/the-oc.html
ORDER: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B08SR7QTVH/
SKIN IN THE GAME and PRIOR BAD ACTS are bundled for Kindle.
Only $10.94
Come meet Bobby Cain and Harper McCoy
ORDER: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08G1WFF4G
SKIN IN THE GAME
Raised as siblings by an itinerant “gypsy” family, knife expert Bobby Cain, trained by the US military in the lethal art of covert eliminations, and Harper McCoy, nurtured by the US Navy and the CIA to run black ops and wage psychological warfare, are now civilians. Of a sort. Employing the skills learned from the “family” and their training, they now fix the unfixable. Case in point: Retired General William Kessler hires the duo to track down his missing granddaughter, a Vanderbilt University co-ed. Their search leads them to a small, bucolic, lake-side town in central Tennessee and into a world of prostitution, human trafficking, and serial murder. The question then becomes: Will their considerable skills be enough for Cain and Harper to save the young woman, and themselves, from a sociopath with “home field” advantage, a hunter’s skills, and his own deeply disturbing agenda?
Terrific—truly sinister, scary, and suspenseful. Lyle never lets you down.—Lee Child, NYT Bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series
SKIN IN THE GAME hums like a tuning fork in perfect thriller pitch. Heroes Bobby Cain and Harper McCoy are skilled with blade and mind, and the villain here sent chills up my spine from page one on. This is further proof that Doug Lyle is at the top of his game.–T. Jefferson Parker author of THE LAST GOOD GUY
Details: http://www.dplylemd.com/book-details/skin-in-the-game.html
PRIOR BAD ACTS
“Prior bad acts predict future bad acts.”—Harper McCoy
Fear grips an isolated mountain town after drug dealer Dalton Southwell kills a rogue dealer and his entire family. Score settled; message delivered. But, Dalton’s best-laid plans go awry when his brother Dennie takes a bullet in the gut. In a panic, Dr. Buck Buckner is kidnaped from the local ER, a pharmacy is robbed and the owner murdered, and the killers melt into the rugged Tennessee hills. Buck’s physician father calls in Bobby Cain and Harper McCoy to rescue his son from killers who would have little use for him after he saves Dennie; or worse, the wounded man dies. But, which direction and how far did they run? What hideaway did they burrow into? For Cain and Harper it’s a race against time to locate the killers, safely retrieve Buck, and settle their own score.
“A born storyteller”—Peter James, UK #1 Bestselling Author of the Detective Superintendent Roy Grace Series
“Prior Bad Acts moves like a runaway freight train, thundering along from beginning to end and picking up speed until the very last page. D. P. Lyle’s second effort to feature Bobby Cain and Harper McCoy finds his stalwart heroes on the dark side of the American Dream, as they attempt to right wrongs that turn small-town Americana into a Shakespearean tragedy. This is a crime thriller of the highest order and an absolute must read.”—-Jon Land, USA Today bestselling author
Details: http://www.dplylemd.com/book-details/prior-bad-acts.html
Criminal Mischief: The Art and Science of Crime Fiction: Episode #46: The Opening Scene
LISTEN: https://soundcloud.com/authorsontheair/46-opening-scene
PAST SHOWS: http://www.dplylemd.com/criminal-mischief.html
SHOW NOTES:
Your opening scene carries a heavy load. It must hook the reader, introduce the story question—and often the protagonist/antagonist, reveal the setting/story world, evoke emotion in the reader, and reveal the voice and tone of the story. That’s a lot of work, and pressure on the writer.
Why is the opening scene so important?
1—It must do all or most of the above
2—It’s all most people will ever read—-unless it’s compelling
3—It’s what grabs the attention of agents and editors
4—It’s you first—and only—chance to make a good impression
Things you must do in the first few pages:
Hook the reader
Introduce an interesting character or situation
Ask the story question
Set the tone and voice
Introduce the story world
Hints at what’s to come
Make the reader care, or at least curious
A Few Openings:
Red Dragon–Thomas Harris
Will Graham sat Crawford down at a picnic table between the house and the ocean and gave him a glass of iced tea.
Jack Crawford looked at the pleasant old house, salt-silvered wood in the clear light. “I should have caught you in Marathon when you got off work,” he said. “You don’t want to talk about it here.”
“I don’t want to talk about anywhere, Jack. You’ve got to talk about it, so let’s have it. Just don’t get out any pictures. If you brought pictures, leave them in the briefcase — Molly and Willy will be back soon.”
“How much do you know?”
“What was in the Miami Herald and the Times,” Graham said. “Two families killed in their houses a month apart. Birmingham and Atlanta. The circumstances were similar.”
“Not similar. The same.”
“How many confessions so far?”
“Eighty-six when I called this afternoon,” Crawford said. “Cranks. None of them knew details. He smashes the mirrors and uses the pieces. None of them knew that.”
The Secret History—Donna Tartt
The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. He’d been dead for ten days before they found him, you know. It was one of the biggest manhunts in Vermont history – state troopers, the FBI, even an army helicopter; the college closed, the dye factory in Hampden shut down, people coming from New Hampshire, upstate New York, as far away as Boston.
The Concrete Blonde—Michael Connelly
The house in Silverlake was dark, its windows as empty as a dead man’s eyes. It was an old California Craftsman with a full front porch and two dormer windows set on the long slope of the roof. But no light shone behind the glass, not even from above the doorway. Instead, the house cast a foreboding darkness about it that not even the glow from the streetlight could penetrate. A man could be standing there on the porch and Bosch knew he probably wouldn’t be able to see him.
“You sure this is it?” he asked her.
“Not the house,” she said. “Behind it. The garage. Pull up so you can see down the drive.”
Bosch tapped the gas pedal and the Caprice moved forward and crossed the entrance to the driveway.
“There,” she said.
Bosch stopped the car. There was a garage behind the house with an apartment above it. Wooden staircase up the side, light over the door. Two windows, lights on inside.
“Okay,” Bosch said.
They stared at the garage for several moments. Bosch didn’t know what he expected to see. Maybe nothing. The whore’s perfume was filling the car and he rolled his window down. He didn’t know whether to trust her claim or not. The one thing he knew he couldn’t do was call for backup. He hadn’t brought a rover with him and the car was not equipped with a phone.
“What are you going to – – there he goes!” she said urgently.
Bosch had seen it, the shadow of a figure crossing behind the smaller window. The bathroom, he guessed.
“He’s in the bathroom,” she said. “That’s where I saw all the stuff.”
Bosch looked away from the window and at her.
“What stuff?”
“I, uh, checked the cabinet. You know, when I was in there. Just looking to see what he had. A girl has to be careful. And I saw all the stuff. Makeup shit. You know, mascara, lipsticks, compacts and stuff. That’s how I figured it was him. He used all that stuff to paint ‘em when he was done, you know, killing them.”
Run To Ground–D. P. Lyle
“I can still smell him.” Martha Foster inhaled deeply and closed her eyes.
Tim stood just inside the doorway and looked down at his wife. She sat on the edge of their son’s bed, eyes moist, chin trembling, as were the fingers that clutched the navy-blue Tommy Hilfiger sweatshirt to her chest. It had been Steven’s favorite. He had slept in it every night the first month, until Martha finally pried it away long enough to run it through the wash.
Behind her, a dozen photos of Steven lay scattered across the blue comforter. A proud Steven in his first baseball uniform. A seven-year-old Steven, grinning, upper left front tooth missing, soft freckles over his nose, buzz-cut hair, a blue swimming ribbon dangling around his neck. A playful Steven, sitting next to Martha at the backyard picnic table, face screwed into a goofy expression, smoke from the Weber BBQ rising behind them. Tim remembered the day he snapped the picture. Labor Day weekend. Just six months before that day. He squeezed back his own tears and swallowed hard.
Martha shifted her weight and twisted toward the photos. She laid the sweatshirt aside and reached out, lightly touching an image of Steven’s face. The trembling of her delicate fingers increased. She said nothing for a moment and then, “I’m taking these.”
Tim walked to where she sat and pulled her to him, her cheek nestling against his chest, her tears soaking through his tee shirt. He kissed the top of her head.
“He’s gone,” Martha said. “Everything’s gone. Or will be.”
@copyrighted
DEEP SIX, Jake Longly #1, is a Kindle Daily Deal July 3rd
Only $1.99
Ex-professional baseball player Jake Longly adamantly refuses to work for Ray, his PI father, preferring to chase bikinis along the beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama. But Ray could be persuasive so Jake finds himself staking-out a suspected adulteress who gets murdered right under Jake’s nose. Aided by new girlfriend Nicole Jamison, Jake’s homicide investigation quickly runs afoul of Ukrainian mobster Victor Borkov. Was Borkov behind the murder? If so, why? As the intrepid couple nose around, more murders pile up, and ultimately they must somehow escape being deep-sixed from Borkov’s massive yacht.
We all know Lyle’s erudition and expertise – but who knew he was this funny?–Lee Child, NY Times Best Selling Author
Corruption, vendettas, cartel killers, oh my! Deep Six puts the fun back into late night reading with this fast-paced romp through murder and mayhem. Prepare to flip the pages.–Lisa Gardner, NY Times Best-selling Author
Grab a copy and hang out with Jake, Nicole, Ray, and of course Pancake.
More Details: http://www.dplylemd.com/book-details/deep-six/
PURCHASE: https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Six-Jake-Longly-Book-ebook/dp/B01BGHUTBK/
Criminal Mischief: The Art and Science of Crime Fiction: Episode #45: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
LISTEN: https://soundcloud.com/authorsontheair/criminal-mischief-episode-45-carbon-monoxide-poisoning
PAST SHOWS: http://www.dplylemd.com/criminal-mischief.html
SHOW NOTES:http://www.dplylemd.com/criminal-mischief-notes/45-carbon-monoxide.html
From FORENSICS FOR DUMMIES:
That Sneaky Carbon Monoxide
Carbon monoxide is sneaky and deadly. When authorities find a suicide victim in her garage, sitting in a car with the engine running, they can usually chalk up that death to carbon monoxide.
Carbon monoxide is a tasteless, odorless, colorless gas that is completely undetectable by humans. It results from the incomplete combustion of carbon‐containing fuels like wood, coal, and gas. Faulty stoves, heaters, and fireplaces can fill the air with CO. Carbon monoxide poisoning kills more people trapped in fires than the fire itself does.
CO is particularly treacherous because it binds to hemoglobin, producing carboxyhemoglobin in your blood. Because carboxyhemoglobin contains no usable oxygen, cells containing this molecule can’t supply oxygen to the tissues of the body. Thus, the body’s cells become starved for oxygen. Carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin 300 times more readily than oxygen does and thus takes oxygen’s place in the body. Your body can get very high blood levels of CO by breathing air that contains only small amounts of it. For example, breathing air that contains a carbon monoxide level as low as 0.2 percent can lead to blood CO saturations greater than 60 percent after only 30 to 45 minutes.
Most people believe that CO is toxic only in an enclosed area, but that’s just not true. People have died while working on their cars in the open air; typically, someone finds the victim lying near the car’s exhaust. Similarly, swimmers and water skiers who loiter near the dive platform on the back of an idling powerboat also run the risk of CO poisoning. Carbon monoxide’s powerful attraction to hemoglobin explains how people can succumb to CO poisoning in open areas.
The signs and symptoms of CO toxicity correlate with its concentration in the blood:
1–The normal level of CO in the blood is 1 to 3 percent, but it can be as high as 7 to 10 percent in smokers.
2–At levels of 10 to 20 percent, you experience headaches and a poor ability to concentrate on complex tasks.
3–Between 30 and 40 percent, headaches become severe and throbbing, and nausea, vomiting, faintness, and lethargy appear. Pulse and breathing rate increase noticeably.
4–Between 40 and 60 percent, the victim becomes confused, disoriented, weak, and displays extremely poor coordination.
5–Above 60 percent, coma and death arrive.
In the elderly and those individuals with heart or lung disease, levels as low as 20 percent can be lethal. Victims of car exhaust suicide or those who die from fire in an enclosed room may reach CO levels as high as 90 percent.
Autopsy findings in CO poisoning depend, in part, on carboxyhemoglobin’s bright red color. When the ME performs an autopsy on a victim of CO poisoning, the blood and internal organs often appear bright red, and this offers a clue to the possible cause of death.
Individuals who survive CO intoxication can suffer serious health problems. Carbon monoxide mostly damages the brain because it’s the organ most sensitive to a lack of oxygen. Symptoms and signs of significant brain insult may begin immediately or be delayed for several days or weeks. The most common after‐effects include chronic headaches, memory loss, blindness, confusion, disorientation, poor coordination, and hallucinations. The ME may be asked to evaluate a surviving victim if authorities suspect that the exposure was the result of a criminal act or they want documentation for a civil lawsuit.
Newser Story: https://www.newser.com/story/307939/students-drowning-due-in-part-to-carbon-monoxide.html
CO Deaths on Lake Erie: https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2021/06/two-men-boy-died-from-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-in-boating-incident-on-lake-erie-cuyahoga-county-medical-examiner-rules.html
CO Deaths From car Used as Heat Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/two-dead-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-after-using-car-heat-texas-n1257972
PubMed: CO Poisoning Deaths is US, 1999-2012: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26032660/
CDC: CP Poisoning: https://www.cdc.gov/dotw/carbonmonoxide/index.html
Famous People Who Died of CO Poisoning: https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-people-who-died-of-carbon-monoxide-poisoning/reference
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